3201 Rotterdam Alexander railway station, 2011

Studio Makkink & Bey made a proposal for ProRail (in control of the Dutch railway system) in which quiet interactive images on large screens revive the railway platform of Rotterdam Alexander Station. The calm images guide the attention of the public gently away from the platform toward slow moving images that make an indirect connection with railway culture. Another proposal is to include the audience on the platforms actively into the décor - and to make the platform, audience and screens into an interactive movie set. This kind of personal participation makes a place feel more inhabited by the people who regularly wait there. This reciprocity between the platform and the digital display ensures a more authentic character. Showing an interactive filmic game between surveillance cameras, platforms, video's and audience, creates a situation where time, space, reality and fiction alternate. The platform might even give an early stage to experimental technologies or student projects.